The Etiology of the Storm
by Shlee Verde
Summary: This was an assignment for my Greek Mythology class. Basically what we had to do was write an etiology and I choose why the thunderstorm was created. Not like any of my other fics. you'll see why


The Etiology of the Storm  
  
By: Shlee Verde  
  
Summary: This was an assignment I had for my Greek Mythology class, basically what we had to do was write an etiology for how an element of nature was created. I choose to write about how the thunderstorm was created. (I got an A- on this!) Oh, and its supposed to sound like its directly out of mythology - not all my stories sound like this.  
  
  
  
The Etiology of the Storm  
  
As the rain was coming down and the lightening flashed and the thunder crashed outside my window, I was sitting at my table writing when I was visited by the Muses. They said to me, "Fair scribe, ask us anything, ask us whatever you wish to know and we will tell you the story."  
  
I looked at the storm brewing outside in all its fury. I replied, "Muses, goddesses of music, arts, and memory, tell me. Tell me, how is it that the storm brews so fierce, with the thunder following the lightening at different intervals?"  
  
The Muses smiled, pleased with my choice. They began to sing, and told me the tale that I tell to you now:  
  
Now great Zeus, king of the gods and mighty god of the sky, had wedded his sister Hera, goddess of the earth, and the two lived together in a beautiful and sacred marriage. However, Zeus was promiscuous and he had several affairs, much to his wife's dismay. For ox-eyed Hera was jealous and often challenged her husband about his many romances. Usually, it would be a simply matter of Zeus dismissing or even threatening his white- armed wife.  
  
But that was not so this particular night. Queenly Hera stood her ground against her mighty husband, the king of the gods. Her doe-eyes flashed in the moonlight and she shouted at Zeus, challenged him, begged him to stop his unfaithfulness. She asked him to come to her whenever he wanted and not to his other wenches.  
  
But loud-thundering Zeus grew angry at the boldness of his wife. He stood up and demanded why he should answer to her, his wife and queen, when he was king of gods and ruler of the whole cosmos. As Zeus' anger grew, lightening began to flash all around Olympus, a demonstration of the storm god's fury. And as Hera shouted back, there was a loud roaring accompanying the lightening, following it steadily as the argument grew more fierce. For as the argument grew more venomous, the roaring that was white armed Hera's shouts began to follow the angry lightening of Zeus more quickly, until it began to roar immediately after the lightening struck. And the storm that was their anger continued to brew.  
  
And Gaia began to cry in fear, for she was afraid that the anger of the husband and wife would destroy her, and take with it Olympus, the home of the gods. Her tears fell rapidly, pouring out all over the earth. She cried for help, for she was certain that her destruction was near, that the two lovers would destroy everything that had been created.  
  
It was Hermes, the messenger, who heard Gaia's cries. And he in great haste summoned all of the Olympians to a conference to decide what was to be done, except of course for Zeus and Hera who were still reining terror upon the gentle earth.  
  
Finally, Pallas Athena stood up and, in her armor, went before her father out of whose own head she was born and his wife, Hera. She said:  
  
"Oh mighty Zeus, my king and my father, and beautiful Hera of the white-arms, hear me and see. You, in all of your bickering, have called a storm down upon our mother Gaia; she is in great terror, and the waters of her tears may soon overrun the earth in yet another flood. Please, hear my wisdom, and let this madness end."  
  
But Zeus and Hera could not stop shouting, so hysterical with rage they were. Finally Athena placed her right arm on her father's arm and her left arm on Hera's arm, and simply said, "Peace,"  
  
And Zeus ceased in his lightening bolts and Hera stopped her shouting, and the two looked at each other, exhausted by their storm.  
  
Athena smiled for Gaia, was now at peace, but she knew that her father and his wife would come to odds again.  
  
Then Pallas Athena, in all her great wisdom, devised a plan to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. This plan she whispered to her father Zeus, who readily agreed.  
  
Then the storm god took some of his lightening bolts and some of the roaring thunder of Hera's anger and he made them one. He added to them Gaia's tears of fear and he put the power he created in the clouds about Olympus. Zeus had created the thunderstorm. So now when Hera and Zeus are about to come to violence again, the power is released from the clouds and lightening and thunder dominate the night. It is a reminder - even the king and the queen of the gods need reminders from time to time - of what could happen if the husband and the wife once again brought a mighty storm down upon the earth.  
  
So whenever you see the lightening tear across the night sky and hear the thunder swiftly following in its wake, have no fear, for it is only a representation of the pain that even the most sacred of all marriages must endure. 


End file.
